The present invention is generally related to a sorting and storage system for pieces of goods, such as flight luggage, and more particularly to means permitting great flexibility when re-scheduling aircraft.
Sorting systems are in common use, which enable automatic sorting and distribution of pieces of goods from one or several feed stations to a greater or lesser number of receiving stations, such as from a check-in area to the various receiving stations near the parking areas of the aircraft. Usually sorters are used which have conveyors using sideways tiltable carrying trays or platforms which are activated to tilt by central control based on destination codes read at the relevant destinations.
It may occur that changes of flight schedule cause transfer of receiving station because a different aircraft has been selected. In this situation it is quite simple to change destination for newly-arrived luggage, but if a large number of pieces have already been transferred to a receiving station they have to be re-transferred, either by returning them all to the feed station or by separate transfer directly to the relevant new destination. On this basis a system has been developed that incorporates a storage unit to which checked luggage is sent and where it is kept as long as there is a possibility that a new destination might be required. As soon as the final decision has been made, all the checked luggage may then automatically be distributed from the storage unit to delivery at the correct destination.
In principle the automatic handling of the goods may be performed by acting directly on the pieces of luggage, but in particular for safe handling in the storage unit it has been found to be advantageous to place the pieces of luggage in individual carriers, so-called "totes". These are shallow boxes which may receive pieces of luggage up to a certain area, e.g. corresponding to the largest suitcases that will be encountered. These "totes" may be equipped with the necessary means to cooperate with suitable transportation means on the conveyors, such as trays or platforms, in order to obtain the desired result.
In these more advanced systems higher demands are put on the components, because emptying of goods from the "totes" must occur by noticably greater tilt of the transportation means of the conveyor while the "totes" themselves must be held securely but releasably on the transportation means when they are to be discharged in the storage unit. This has lead to greater complexity of the systems, and their construction can only be based on existing sorting and storage systems after complex and expensive modifications.